


the wrong garden

by porcelainsalt (bluedreaming), read by (bluedreaming)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Canon-Typical Violence, Drarry Discord Writers Corner Drabble Challenge, Flash Fic, Gen, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Potions, Pre-Slash, Read by the Author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27772396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/porcelainsalt, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/read%20by
Summary: In a house overrun by Death Eaters, what can you do without a wand? Brew. But don't think.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16
Collections: micro-fiction





	the wrong garden

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this flashfic is from [BLOSSOMS OF URANIUM](https://www.poetryinternational.org/pi/poem/1311/auto/0/0/Armando-Romero/BLOSSOMS-OF-URANIUM) by Armando Romero, translated by Alita Kelley and Janet Foley.
> 
> You can find the podfic page with multiple formats on [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/the-wrong-garden-written-and-read-by-bluedreaming).

* * *

Draco realises, after a few days, that no one’s going to come for him. In the main wing, in the cellars, the Death Eaters are entertaining themselves. Draco can hear the screams at night, even when he muffles his ears in the bed linens. He doesn’t have a wand anymore, and he won’t take his mother’s.

“Draco,” she had said, eyes wet but determined.

“No,” Draco had returned, shaking his head.

He doesn’t think about Potter, or wands, or the Dark Lord. Draco is very good at not thinking about anything at all.

Instead, he gets by without a wand, and doesn’t think about Professor Snape in first year, doesn’t think about how potions are an art that doesn’t require the use of a wand. The air in the wall passages is heavy with dust and thick with the smell of rot as he holds his breath and ventures out to find asphodel, valerian, wormwood and sopophorous bean. Draco’s stomach turns. He closes his eyes and keeps walking.

The nights of the full moon, he shivers in the farthest corner of his rooms, all the doors between bolted and the doorway smeared with Confusing and Befuddlement Draught. In the mornings, he picks himself up and keeps going. He doesn’t think about all the things that could go wrong.

The house-elves are quiet and scarce these days, and Draco hopes they’ve found refuge elsewhere. Is anywhere safe? Draco doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t see them, but sometimes there’s food left on the table, or ingredients tucked in the cupboards. Draco doesn’t think about how it feels like their silent approval. He leaves a vial of Wiggenweld Potion on the shelf and doesn’t think about Potter. It’s gone, the next time he checks.

The Dark Lord is often away, so Draco needs to be ready at a moment’s notice. He’s soaked strips of fabric, torn up bits of his old school robes, and stuffed them into bottles. He doesn’t think about placing them around the main rooms, tucked in dusty corners. He doesn’t think about unsealing them when the carousing and screams have finally died down. He doesn’t think about setting the soaked fabric alight, potent fumes filling the air.

He doesn’t think at all.

When Draco wakes, disoriented and confused, to green eyes, he doesn’t need to think about Potter. Potter is right there.

**Author's Note:**

> Created for the [drarry discord](https://poxei.tumblr.com/post/633399975146094592) drabble challenge for November 2020. The prompt was _potion_.
> 
> My [Blanket Statement](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5678194).


End file.
